I’m trying to get a feel for what users appreciate and want out of community moderators.

Other related questions:

  • What community rules do you like?

  • What moderation actions do you think are helpful?

  • What is a helpful way for moderators to interact with their respective communities?

  • Anything else relevant?

  • @DarkCloud
    12•6 months ago

    I liked on IRC (internet relay chat) how all the moderator actions were announced - sometimes even globally.

    It was always overt and obvious why someone was kicked or banned, for how long, and a reason was almost always given (even if it was a joking one liner just to piss off the person being kicked).

    This (especially that last part) made it clear the mods were just people, it showed their work, and also showed how serious, fair, unfair, or political they were.

    Hang around on an IRC channel long enough and you knew what mods were jerks, go to enough channels and you could find which were fair and had well measured rules, and which were just a circus for the mods to play politics in…

    It allowed users to find their places, and their levels, and to see the precedents, standards, and who they could appeal to have bans reversed.

    It was a lot more public than comments disappearing with no answers as to why, and not even being able to notice if users disappear from a community… Which is how things are on many platforms today.